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Harvard University Students' Demand Letter

February 27, 2006

President Lawrence Summers
Provost Steven Hyman
Massachusetts Hall
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02130

Dear President Summers and Provost Hyman,

We, the members of the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), write to request a meeting to discuss the protection of the right to organize of workers employed by Harvard contractors. We are writing as part of an internationally coordinated effort to protect the right to organize.

With this letter, we initiate our “Right to Organize Campaign.” The Campaign will hold Harvard University and the Harvard Corporation accountable for any continued financial support of corporations that systematically violate their workers’ right to organize.

The right to organize is a fundamental human right; in its December 2003 decision to affiliate with the Workers’ Rights Consortium, Harvard affirmed its responsibility to uphold this right internationally. However, certain of our contracts and investments continue to give tacit – or even explicit – approval to some of the most egregious violators of the right to organize.

First among these human rights violators is Coca-Cola Co., with which Harvard maintains an exclusive contract for soft drinks and other products. Employees at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia have faced brutal repression and systematic intimidation for attempting to exercise their rights. Nine union activists have been assassinated and hundreds more kidnapped, detained, and tortured. There is evidence of extensive collaboration between paramilitaries and Coke managers, yet Coca-Cola Co. has refused to conduct any independent investigation.

Labor violations exist on campus as well. What was once a strong union of security guards was devastated by the university’s decision to outsource security work to subcontractors. Now, AlliedBarton Security Services, our primary contractor, shows flagrant disregard for workers’ rights, withholding pay for hours worked, suspending workers without cause, and targeting officers who are outspoken supporters of unionizing.

Therefore,

•We demand that Harvard University implement a policy requiring neutrality towards organizing as a condition for receiving Harvard contracts.
•We demand that until AlliedBarton Security Services offers “card check neutrality” to all of its employees, Harvard University will not contract its services, but will ensure continued employment on campus for all current security officers.
•We demand that Harvard immediately cancel all contracts held with Coca-Cola Co.
•We demand that Harvard divest the $16.2 million share it now holds in Coca-Cola Co.
•We demand that the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility immediately begin direct work with student organizations to develop and implement a human rights code of conduct as a criterion for all investments and contracts.

We express our desire to confront these issues in respectful cooperation with the administration. In that spirit, we request a response by Monday, March 13, 2006 at 5:00pm to schedule a meeting on or before Thursday, March 23, 2006.

Please contact:

Student Labor Action Movement
Phillips Brooks House
Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-549-6833
harvardslam@yahoo.com

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this pressing matter.

Sincerely,

Student Labor Action Movement

cc: Professor Derek Bok; James Houghton, Senior Fellow, Harvard Corporation; Sally Zeckhauser, Vice President; Marilyn Hausammann, Vice President; William Murphy, Director of Labor & Employee Relations; Ted Mayer, Director of Harvard University Dining Services